GOING OUT
This is all about doing what we can to spread the gospel. Engaging others with the gospel mean going where they are. The majority of churches in America want outsiders to come in to get involved with their church. However, asking others to visit any church is just not enough, because most people never come to the church building. There is a “bunker mentality” when the church’s primary purpose is the safety and comfort of its members. The church (the people) must go where others are and extend the invitation. Instead of waiting for people to come to us, believers are to go to them and tell them to come to Christ. What this says is that believers must become outwardly focused rather than inwardly focused- more concerned with others than ourselves. Paul was always “Going Out” to tell others of the gospel that literally meant the world to him. None of us, can hope to do anything close to what did in spreading the gospel, but we all should do something (as the saying goes- “even if it is wrong”). When we try and leave the results to the Holy Spirit, we are doing Jesus’ work.
Read Acts 16:6-8
The overall setting is the events of Paul’s second missionary journey. In Acts 16 it details how God stopped Paul from going into various regions of Asia Minor. When Paul and his companions had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. If we consult a map, we will see that what is described in four lines here was a really long journey. Galatia, Phrygia and Asia (Minor) were three regions that succeeded each other. Paul and those who accompanied him, passed the first two (Phrygia and Galatia) and came to the third one: Asia Minor. However, as the text says, God, the Holy Spirit, forbade them to preach the Word there, and thus they went north towards Mysia. Nevertheless, when they tried to move from there to Bithynia, God forbade them again. As a result, they passed by Mysia and went to Troas, on the Aegean Sea.
As it may be obvious from the above, Philippi was not a place to which Paul and Silas were planning to go from the beginning. In fact, they tried twice to go to other places, but God forbade them. The reason He forbade them is not because He did not desire His Word to be preached in those areas. Actually, Paul went to Asia Minor some time later and as Acts 19:10 tells us: “All who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” Nevertheless, we all know that it is not possible to be in two different places at the same time. In other words, the Word was impossible to be preached simultaneously by the same man in Asia or Bithynia and in Philippi. Something necessarily had to come first and something second. As it seems, from God’s point of view, Philippi and Greece had time priority over Asia and Bithynia. From these we can conclude that God is not interested in just the preaching of the Word, but in the preaching of the Word where HE wants, as HE wants and when HE wants. As Ephesians 5:23 tells us: “Christ is the head of the church.” We should never be surprised by this, in fact, this is what needs to guide us. We need to listen for and be obedient to the Holy Spirit’s leadership- Paul and Silas were!
Read Acts 16:9-10
God had not called them that specific time, to preach the Word in Asia and Bithynia. Instead He had called them to preach the Word in Macedonia and finally in all the eastern mainland of Greece. How did they know it? The Lord COMMUNICATED IT TO THEM through a vision. In fact, He communicated it to them in such a way that they ASSUREDLY gathered that the Lord had led them to go there. However, do we believe that God would have done this if they were not ready to move where He wanted them to move? I do not think so. God will not compel anyone to work in His field. However, if someone wants to work for Him – which is exactly what He expects from us; we should not make up our own way about how, when and where he is going to move, but he should consult the Master who is ultimately responsible to decide on these.
Verse 9, Ὅραμα διὰ τῆς νυκτὸς” a vision in the night) It is not said to have been a dream; although it was the night. No other dream is mentioned in the New Testament, except the dreams which were given to Joseph in those earliest times, Matthew 1, 2, and the dream of the wife of Pilate, a Gentile. In Acts 2:17, the words are repeated from Joel. The night is seasonable for learning the Divine will. The man was an angel, or a kind of apparition, as in Acts 10:11. a Macedonian). The appearance of a man who was known to be of Macedonia, probably by his dress and language. The will of God was at different times made known in both visions and dreams. Compare Matthew 2:12; note, Acts 10:3. Grotius supposes that this was the guardian angel of Macedonia, and refers for illustration to Daniel 10:12-13, Daniel 10:20-21.
Macedonia was an extensive country of Greece, having Thrace on the north, Thessaly south, Epirus west, and the Aegean Sea east. It is supposed that it was populated by Kittim, son of Javan, Genesis 10:4. The kingdom rose into celebrity chiefly under the reign of Philip and his son, Alexander the Great (Daniel’s interpretation of the third kingdom). It was the first region in Europe in which we have any record that the gospel was preached. That is, by preaching the gospel. This was a call to preach the gospel in an extensive pagan land, amid many trials and dangers. To this call, notwithstanding all this prospect of danger, Paul and Silas cheerfully responded, and gave themselves to the work. Their conduct was thus an example to the church. From all portions of the earth a similar call is now coming to the churches. Openings of a similar character for the introduction of the gospel are presented in all lands. Appeals are coming from every quarter, and all that seems now necessary for the speedy conversion of the world is for the church to enter into these vast fields with the self-denial, the spirit, and the zeal which characterized the apostle Paul.
Read Acts 16:11-15
Paul and his friend Silas travel together. They traveled in a ship and then on land to tell many people about Jesus. Everywhere they went, they took time to tell people the good news of how to get to Heaven by believing in Jesus Christ. As they were traveling, they stopped at the city of Philippi. It was a big city with lots of people. They stayed there for several days. On church day, they went outside the city to a beautiful spot by the river to pray. As Paul and Silas walked closer, they saw a group of women in a circle talking. Paul and Silas began to talk to them. They probably shared how Jesus had changed their lives. One woman that was listening was named Lydia.
Lydia was a God-fearer. That is, she was a gentile (non-Jewish) who worshipped God. She met Paul on the river right outside of Philippi and believed his testimony about Jesus. She is described as Lydia from Thyatira, who was a dealer in purple cloth.
It is possible that this woman’s name was not Lydia. She might have been a woman of Lydia, which was a geographical region, and Thyatira was a city in Lydia. When Paul writes to the Philippians he mentions different women, but never uses the name of Lydia. We can safely believe that if there was a Christian woman in Philippi with that name, Paul would have mentioned her and sent greetings. The story in Acts indicates she had been important to his work in Philippi. Unless she had died or moved away, the absence of Lydia as a name lends support to the supposition that it was the region from which she came. But there aren’t any clues as to which one in Philippians might be “Lydia.”
Lydia was a business woman. She seems to have been prosperous and the head of her household. Her business was dealing with purple cloth. Purple dye was difficult to attain and consequently expensive. This is why it became known as a royal color, kings being the ones who could afford it. The Israelites, however, included at least one purple thread in their prayer shawls, a reminder of God’s concern for rich and poor alike. Thyatira was a city famous for its dyers of cloth. Lydia herself may have been a merchant who had set up business in Philippi. She wasn’t a travelling merchant because she appears to have had a permanent home there. After meeting Paul and believing his witness to Jesus, she and the members of her household were baptized as Christians.
The head of the household would have had the authority to make a religious decision for everyone. In the Old Testament, Joshua does so when he urges the Israelites to “choose this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
If Lydia did make the decision for everyone, they still appear to have become sincere Christians, because Paul had a good relationship with the Philippian church, a foundation of which had to be Lydia’s household. One reasonable explanation for this could be the fact that Lydia subsequently invited Paul to stay in her home during his time in Philippi. This would have been an economic help to Paul, relieving him of the need to earn a living while there. But from the point of view of the household, it gave an opportunity for further instruction in the Christian faith. A further example of Paul’s feelings of closeness with the Philippian church is the fact that they were the only ones he allowed to contribute to his expenses while he was at other churches.
This all part of God’s plan for Paul and to provide for Lydia’s salvation. The financial help provided Paul a means to continue with spreading the gospel. When we GO OUT for God He provides a way, a method, and a subject to spread the gospel- and sometimes the means.
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